The Necessity of Atheism and Agnosticism in the Philippines

‎”A man
has no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandfather.
If there were an ancestor whom I should feel shame in recalling it
would rather be a man who plunges into scientific questions with
which he has no real acquaintance, only to obscure them by an
aimless rhetoric….”

— Thomas Henry Huxley

“Without education and liberty, which are the soil and the sun
of man, no reform is possible , no measure can give the result
desired.”
— Jose Rizal

Due to major belief systems that we adopted from outdated
religiosity, the Philippine society becomes detrimental to its aims
of social progress and global participation. The Filipino belief
system of fatalism instils on every Filipino that we lack control
of our own lives and we are incarcerated to the destiny bestowed
upon us.

The Filipino belief system, due to its cultural dogmatism and
unrealistic expectations, teaches us to prejudice among fellow
citizens; in turn we also become self-victimizing due to the
projection of our judgements to others. Enforcing on us to
attaining the unattainable keeps us distracted in our daily lives,
frustrating us with ideal hope thus affecting our self-esteem.

The Filipino belief system acknowledge an appeal to elite or over
reliance to authorities, as the majority believes that a messiah or
a group of messiahs are the only ones capable of leading them to
salvation. The Filipino belief system keeps us hoping for a savior
to liberate us, rather we save ourselves. This belief system
affirms that we are weak and there is a higher power in nature that
controls us.

As atheists and agnostics, the Philippine Atheist and Agnostics
Society promotes choice, responsibility and acknowledgment of
unique self among citizens. We know that every human being have the
inalienable rights to choose and shape their lives. We know that
every human being is responsible to his or her own decisions and he
or she could solve personal problems by solution-based thinking. We
know that every human beings, particularly Filipinos, never have to
acknowledge the elite class; every person is unique in intelligence
and creativity.

We predict that the detrimental belief systems mentioned
above are the fruits of an imposition of outdated
religious-based ethics in the society.These
organized totalitarian sects insists that God has the power to
manipulate our fate, that we are always weak, and there is no one
to trust but God and his messiahs. Worse, this kind of thinking
doesn’t just keeps us off the truth, but affects our personal
growth as human beings, as they lead us to laziness, blaming
attitude and fanaticism to the richest personalities in the
Philippines.

The more religion-based morality is imposed, the more
the nation becomes detrimental. We promote
skepticism and scientific inquiry, as well as atheism/agnosticism
in society.

We are for pure scientific education, most specifically, sex
education and evolution. In these studies we may learn our
objective moral values and understand our purpose as we live.

We are critical against supernatural claims, and we believe that
insistence of the paranormal in our science curriculum slows the
education of every potential harbingers of scientific enlightenment
in the Philippines. These spiritualism will resort us back to the
detrimental belief systems as mentioned above.We have
learned, and we must act against this.

The Philippine Atheists and Agnostics Society promotes unity among
Filipino atheists and agnostics, and promote camaraderie among its
members, and the Philippine society in return. We are for the
education of our fellow atheists and agnostics, and to help them
realize how relevant this issue is in their daily lives.